Crawford was again a leading candidate for the Democratic-Republican presidential nomination in 1824. However, Crawford was put out of the running because of a paralytic stroke he suffered in 1823 that was brought on by a prescription given to him by his physician.[2] The Democratic-Republican Party split around this time and one of the splinter groups nominated Crawford. Despite Crawford's improved health (and the support of former presidents Madison and Thomas Jefferson), he finished third in the electoral vote, behind John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson. He thus was still in the nominal running when the Presidential election ended up in the House of Representatives, due to the provision within the Twelfth Amendment giving a line on the House ballot to each of the top three candidates, but his stroke made him a non-factor there.

Refusing Adams's request that he remain at the Treasury, Crawford then returned to Georgia, where he was appointed as a state superior court judge. Crawford remained an active judge until his death a decade later.

Crawford was nominated for vice president by the Georgia legislature in 1828 but later withdrew after support from other states was not forthcoming. Crawford also considered running for vice president in 1832 but decided against it in favor of Martin Van Buren. Crawford also considered running for president again in 1832 but dropped the idea when Andrew Jackson decided to seek a second term.

Personal life[edit]

William Harris Crawford was descended from John Crawford (1600-1676) who had come to Virginia in 1643, John Crawford died taking part in Bacon’s Rebellion. John’s son David Crawford, I (1625-1698) was the father of David Crawford, II (1662-1762) and the grandfather of David Crawford, III (1697-1766). David Crawford, III married Ann Anderson in 1727 and had 13 children including Joel Crawford (1736-1788).

William Harris Crawford was born in Amherst County, Virginia the sixth of eleven children born to Joel Crawford and Fanny Harris Crawford. Crawford's family moved south to the village of Appling in Columbia County, Georgia, when he was a boy. As a young man, he worked as a farmer and a schoolteacher for about 10 years, then began to practice law in Lexington, Georgia, in 1799.